College football team recruiting rankings 2013: Alabama holding off Michigan, Texas A&M

College football team recruiting rankings 2013: Alabama holding off Michigan, Texas A&M

The three national all-star games produced more than a dozen commitments, but there were no landslide team victors. Ohio State probably came out with a slight edge by luring two outstanding linebackers in Mike Mitchell out of Texas and Trey Johnson out of Georgia. USC got the best individual by winning the national battle for Sporting News Top 125 defensive back Leon McQuay III, beating out Oregon, Michigan and Florida State. LSU and Notre Dame both nabbed two top players apiece, yet unlike in years past, no program managed to bring home four or five prospects during the all-star week.

The Crimson Tide maintain the slight lead for the No. 1 spot since our last ranking in November. Landing SN125 wide receiver Robert Foster in December was a huge boost, while defensive back Jonathan Cook is another under-the-radar pickup with outstanding speed. Look for a strong finish for the Tide and look for another mythical national recruiting championship come signing day.

Former SN125 offensive lineman David Dawson is back after breaking up with the Wolverines for several weeks, and he brought a talented high school teammate from Cass Tech in Detroit, DB Delano Hill. The Wolverines are pretty much locked in with their class—they may add one more kid. There’s something special about this class, especially along the lines. And southpaw QB Shane Morris is good. The Wolverines may drop slightly in the last few weeks.

The No. 3 to No. 6 spots are very, very close, and it’s hard to ignore what the Aggies have done this year on the field and in recruiting. They throttled Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl and had the first freshman to win the Heisman in Johnny Manziel. In the past few weeks, they’ve added six more prospects to this enormous class, and five junior college studs, too. Plus, former Tennessee DB recruit and SN125 player Kameron Miles is committed, along with former Auburn recruit JaQuay Williams. It’s time to give the Aggies props—they deserve it.

The Fighting Irish are benefiting from what they’re doing on the field. They’re also benefiting from USC’s struggles on the field this year. Case in point is SN125 defensive back Max Redfield, who committed to the Fighting Irish after being a USC recruit for several months. Running back Taurean Folston out of Florida is another impressive all-star game week pickup.

The Buckeyes have picked up four prospects since the last ranking, including Texas native linebacker Mike Mitchell. Georgia linebacker Trey Johnson also bypassed several SEC schools and went with Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes. The Big Ten better brace itself for what is coming in the next couple of years, because these last two recruiting classes at Ohio State have been stellar.

Nabbing two more SN125 players—Matt Rolin and Marcell Harris—has boosted the Gators’ ranking. Also, JUCO prospect Darius Cummings has already signed. He’s a former Florida State signee. This is a great group, and has room to grow a bit more before signing day.

The Trojans have lost a couple of recruits recently, most notably SN125 defensive end Eddie Vanderdoes. There have been concerns by recruits over the on-the-field struggles, but it didn’t scare off SN125 DB Leon McQuay III, who picked the Trojans during the Under Armour Game. The class still has quality.

The Tigers picked up two nice players over the all-star game week, and hold steady in this position. There are still a couple of in-state kids that they’d love to pick up before national signing day with SN125 DE Tim Williams being one of them.

Most of this group will be on campus early—probably one of the biggest early signing groups for one school, ever. There has been very little movement in the Bulldogs’ class since November, thus the slight drop due to other schools moving up—but make no mistake, this is as solid a group as Georgia has had in a while.

SN125 players Kendall Fuller, Holland Fisher and Wyatt Teller are going to make this defense even better than it already is. Fuller and Fisher are both in the secondary and Teller is a defensive end. This is one of their best groups in a while.